Birmingham Sailing Club
Racing on Lake Logan Martin
Racing Program - Races held most Sundays
Contact the Vice Commodore: John Gilliom (205.542.2776 [h]) or racing@birminghamsailingclub.org
Our racing program consists of:
- Sunday afternoon handicap races throughout the year
- one-day regattas
- the Ironman, an open regatta
- one-design regattas
- the GYA Capdevielle regatta series
- the Caldwell Cup regatta
- the Leukemia Cup regatta
Caldwell Cup
The Club's premier regatta, the Caldwell Cup, is held in honor of and in tribute to Sam Y. Caldwell, Jr., first Commodore of BSC and the founding skipper of our Club.
This regatta is open to all members and there is no entrance fee. The regatta will be conducted in accordance with the Club's standard sailing instructions. Trophies will be presented to deserving skippers in each fleet. In addition, the winning skipper in each fleet will have his or her name placed on the Caldwell Cup Perpetual Trophy – a Thistle rudder from Sam Caldwell’s Thistle – that hangs in the Clubhouse.
Ironman Regatta
This multi-class regatta is held in the Spring and is one of the largest multiclass events held in our sailing area. As many as 90 boats have competed in the Ironman. It is a two-day event and normally has two to three races on Saturday and one to two races on Sunday morning.
Leukemia Cup Regatta
The Leukemia Cup Regatta started as an event held by the Pine Harbor Yacht Club on Logan Martin Lake for the benefit of the Alabama Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in April 1988. Funds were raised in memory of a member of the club who lost his life to leukemia, and $5,000 in donations was presented to the Society.
The Eastport Yacht Club in Annapolis, MD, continued the concept of competition among boats and crews to raise funds for the fight against leukemia. The June 1993 event raised $30,000.
Enthusiasm for the event spread across the country into other markets after a presentation at the Society's October 1993 Annual Leadership Conference by noted sailing expert and ESPN Commentator Gary Jobson, who serves as this Regatta's National Chairman.
In 2003, the sailing community raised more than $2.6 million at 45 Regattas, bringing the overall campaign results to more than $12 million. More than 17,000 participants took part in the series last year.
At the Birmingham Sailing Club, the Leukemia Cup Regatta is a two-day event with racing, socializing and fund raising and is usually held in the fall.